The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-10-27
THE FARMERS COLLEGE.
Figures Showing that Separate Agr1-
3urai Colleges are BETTER and
Cheaper than Agricultural An
neXeS.
"Y" IN Ne,cs and Courier.

Der 21. signed by ID" in which
he appears to be we'll satisfied
with his effort, and which, if not an
swered by the friends of s "separste
agricultural college," may have the
effect desired by him. But we are
not disposed to allow him to have it
his own way so easily. "D' is evil
dently no tyro in logic, and when he
laws down his propositions we are
disposed to give him a fair chance to
air himself. He asserts that the
friends of separate agricultural
college have not yet established
either of the following propositions,
which appear reasonable at first
glance:
lst. That the separate college is
more beneficial to the farming ln-
terest of the State than the depart
.ment system and
I'd. "That it is 80 much better as to
fully compensate for the largely IN
creased expenditure involved IN It's
establishment and management
He adds. that the public interest de-
mands the proof of both; and we are
of the opinion that he may find that
he has not settled the case by any
means.
Can the friends of the proposed
college possibly climb over this logl-
cal wall? If not, of course we may
infer that it is perfectly legitimate
for the South Carolina College to
continue to misappropriate the land
script funds as it has done in past
wears. How are these propositions
to be settled ? By the light Of ex-
perience, of course. There is no
other way that l know Of. In the
light of experience all of 'D's' logi-
cal gymnastics pass for what they
are worth, and the public may decide
whether the propositions be demon
strsted,or not.
He would crush US with figures and
hurls his little 'department" against
the separate college in Mississippi
with as much assurance as If 1t
amounted to something. AS he is SO
proud of his "department," we pro
pose that he add to the wonderful
work accomplished by it the work
done by all of the so-called agricul-
tural and mechanical colleges of the
United States, having an ''sgricul-
tural annex" IS desired by him.
There are twenty niue of them for
white pupils, and let US pit" them
againt the work of the eight agrlcul-
tural and mechanical colleges
in the country, which have eman-
cipated themselves from the
thraldom of the classics or the So
called liberal culture" which we do
not care to have in agricultural col
lege or upon the farm. That covers
the whole experience Of the country
up to date, and is the very best
standard that l know of. Taking the
latest United States Educational Re-
port from Washington, lSS4-S5, we
find in tables * and X the follow
ing facts: There are in all thirty.
seven colleges for whites, supported
in whole or in part by the land
script funds. Twenty-nine of these
have agricultural annexes, into
which some of them also incorporate
"mechanical,' "scientifc'' and
mining" departments, in order to
make it appear large, suppose, for
they are doing mighty little work.
The twenty-nine colleges received
from the scrip and from special ap-
propriations the sum Of about $780,
O62 for lS84-5, of which about $780,
900 can be accounted for in building
equipment, &C., leaving about $500
O62 for running the institutions. The
average annual cost, therefore, was
about S3O,6S4, for which they
gave instruction to total number Of
6S3 students in the college classes,
equal to an average attendance Of
ftty.eight to the college, and grad
uatei in all eighteen students. The
cost therefore, of running an agricul-
tural attachment per student in at
tendance at the attachment is So2S 50
per annum. There are nine OF these
so.called agricultural and mechanl-
cal colleges with attachments that
did not have single student to re-
port in those branches. AS IN the
South Carolina College, the money
was being wholly diverted to other
purposes and the agricultural classes
we're not getting single dollar OF it
expeeded in the development OF agrl.
culture or mechanics in those States.
These are facts drawn from their own
reports, and l believe may be relied
upon.
But let US see the advantage Of q
separate agricultural college. These
eight separate colleges received in
all an appropriation of S3Ol,o95, of
which about 100000 was for build
ing and equipment, leaving about
S2O1,S95 as the annual cost Of run
ming them as above. This was an
average of $25.23S each per annum,
for which they gave instruction to a
total number of I,l43 students, equal
to an average attendance Of l42 in
the college classes only, and grad
uated forty-fve students. This
amounted to a cost Of about SIG 46
per annum per student in the seps,
rate colleges, as agsint 1928 s. per
student in the anneXes.
ID" is anxious to compare results
and so are we:
twenty Eight Advan'